KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened lower against the US dollar today amidst contradictory signals abounding and with markets positioning for a trade war to escalate, lower oil prices as well as domestic headwinds starting to blow, a dealer said.
OANDA Head of Trading Asia-Pacific, Stephen Innes said these would pressure the ringgit, making it hard pressed to pick up momentum today.
“While an outright trade war is not the market base case scenario, the fear of an escalation has spooked equity investors and sent the market into a risk-off mentality.On top of that, with the key US jobs report to be revealed this week, it would weigh further on the local note,” he said.
At 9 am, the local note was quoted at 3.8660/8705 compared with yesterday's 3.8600/8640.
A dealer said the local unit had shown some signs of benefiting from stabilising oil prices.
The price of the benchmark Brent crude oil currently stands at US$67.88 per barrel from yesterday's US$69.95 a barrel. - Bernama
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